Editing Han Yu (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Chinese writer, essayist and poet (768–824)}}
{{Other people}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Han (Chinese surname)|Han]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox royalty
|name=Han Yu
|image=Han Yu.jpg
|image_size=185px
|full name=[[Family name]]: Hán 韓<br />[[Given name]]: Yù 愈<br />[[Courtesy name]]: Tuìzhī 退之
|posthumous name = 韓文公
|birth_date=768
|birth_place=Heyang (now [[Mengzhou]], [[Henan]])
|death_date={{Death year and age|824|768}}
|occupation =  Essayist, philosopher, poet, politician
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
|t=韓愈
|s=韩愈
|p=Hán Yù
|w=Han<sup>2</sup> Yü<sup>4</sup>
|mi={{IPAc-cmn|h|an|2|-|yu|4}}
|gr=Harn Yuh
|j=Hon<sup>4</sup> Jyu<sup>6</sup>
|y=Hòhn Yuh
|ci={{IPAc-yue|h|on|4|-|j|yu|6}}
|tl=Hân Jú
}}

'''Han Yu''' ({{zh|t=韓愈}}; 768{{snd}}25 December 824), [[courtesy name]] '''Tuizhi''' ({{zh|t=退之}}), and commonly known by his [[posthumous name]] '''Han Wengong''' (韓文公), was an essayist, Confucian scholar, poet, and government official during the [[Tang dynasty]] who significantly influenced the development of [[Neo-Confucianism]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Charles |last=Hartman |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Volume 1|url={{Google Books |5m5z_ca-qDkC|page=221|plain-url=yes}}|date=1998|isbn=978-81-7833-093-8|pages=221&ndash;222 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Described as "comparable in stature to [[Dante]], [[Shakespeare]] or [[Goethe]]" for his influence on the Chinese literary tradition,<ref name="indiana">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZ0lJDL_1nsC&pg=PA397 |title= The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature |editor= William H. Nienhauser Jr. |pages=397–399 |publisher= Indiana University Press|year= 1986 |isbn=0-253-32983-3 }}</ref>  Han Yu stood for strong central authority in [[politics]] and [[orthodoxy]] in cultural matters.

He is often considered to be among China's finest prose writers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Poetry and prose of the Tang and Song |page=63|author=Gladys Yang |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-8351-1164-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITKCAAAAIAAJ }}</ref> [[Ming dynasty]] scholar Mao Kun ({{lang|zh|茅坤}}) ranked him first among the "[[Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song]]".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvlthkbFU1UC&pg=PA1083 |title=History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century|year=1994|editor =Sigfried J. de Laet |page=1083 |isbn=978-92-3-102813-7}}</ref>